
CHICAGO SOUTH PARK COMMISSION 



E PO RT 



ACCOMPANYING PLAN FOR LAYING OUT 

THE 

SOUTH PARK 



OLMSTED, VAUX & CO. 

Landscape Architects 



CHICAGO SOUTH PARK COMMISSION 



REPORT 

ACCOMPANYING PLAN FOR LAYING OUT 

THE 

SOUTH PAR K 



OLMSTED, VAUX & CO. 

Landscape Architects 



00 



REPORT 



To the Chicago South Park Commission: 

Gentlemen : We present for consideration at this time a de- 
sign, prepared under your instructions, for laying out the three 
tracts of land which are comprised under the title of the South 
Park, and before proceeding to describe the special features of 
our plan, we wish to draw your attention to the leading consid- 
erations which have determined its general character. 

There are two broad types of public parks, by reference to 
which the discussion of a plan may be most readily opened. 
Richmond Park is, for instance, a very useful adjunct of the 
park system of London, and Fontainebleau of that of Paris, bid 
both are useful in a quite different way from St. James's or the 
Pare de Monceau ; the first being great roaming grounds, to 
which people go out by railway, generally spending a day in the 
excursion; the other, garden-like enclosures into which people 
are constantly strolling in great numbers for a short diversion 
from the ordinary occupations of the day. 

Your territory lies at the distance of six miles from the 
center of business of Chicago, and quite beyond its corporate 
limits. Its neighborhood is mainly an uncultivated country, 
much of it unenclosed and sparsely inhabited — the thousand 
acres of the park site having included not more than a dozen 
small dwellings. 



Under these circumstances, it may be thought that the park 
to be formed upon it will not be much used by the citizens 
of Chicago, except as a distant suburban excursion ground. 
The population of the city might indeed be doubled several 
times, and if it should be built as compactly as most great 
towns hitherto have been, and the advance of building should 
spread equally to the North, South and West, the South Park 
would, undoubtedly, still be in the midst of a rural district. 

Against any such presumption, however, stands the fact that 
in all large and nourishing cities throughout the world, there 
has been manifest of late, a strong and steadily increasing 
tendency to abandon the old, cramped manner of building, and 
to adopt a style of dwellings with individual and villa-like 
characteristics that involve a greater ground space, and a corre- 
sponding tendency at the same time to widen streets and public 
places, and separate domestic more and more distinctly from 
commercial quarters. This tendency is especially strong where 
it has free play in American communities, and except where 
it goes so far as to lead people to dispense with appliances of 
health, which, on account of their costliness, require a certain 
degree of density of building, there is abundant evidence that 
it is, in the long run, economical, beneficent and favorable to 
the prosperity of the whole community. This being the case, it 
may be observed incidentally, that in designing a. park in the 
environs of a rapidly growing town, it is proper to have in view, 
as a secondary purpose, the general improvement of the neigh- 
borhood with reference to its healthfulness as a residence, as, for 
instance, by facilitating its drainage. 

In Chicago the banks of the navigable streams are unattrac- 
tive for domestic purposes and cannot fail to be required for 
commerce. Special business quarters may hereafter grow up 
in some directions at a considerable distance from them, but if 
so a more or less complete connection of business streets will 
soon follow between the two, and under the operation of the 
tendency to separate domestic from commercial life, the inter- 
mediate districts will become less and less valuable for dwell- 
ings. The most desirable domestic quarters therefore in the 



earl, future are likely to be those iu which building has never 
,;::,; Impact and which are in no dauger ,1 being mvaded for 
commercial purposes. 

In regard to the district about your site there are in the 

Brst plal, nowhere near it any special inducements to the rise 

rLLsi™ of a commercial tarter; in th< ^^^ 

transportation out of duvet channels, win o 

businL, and flnallv, the advantage which wil ne with to 

Park for securing domestic comfort can hardly fail to soon 
establish a special reputation for the neighborhood and grv 
assurance of permanence to its character as a superior residence 

quarter. 

There are other circumstances which it is unnecessary to 

specify here which add weight to these considerations, and it 

thus becomes highly probable that before any proper plan ot 

ai downed at the present time shall be Ml, realized not 

,, \vill a larcv "undo, of the citizens of Chicago be living 

muh nearer to'your site than , , but it will be m he center 

of „ really populous and wealthy district. In addition then to 

ts holiday use by the whole body of citizens, a large number . 
1st be Lpected\o resort to it for their daily exercise am 

recreation. To be well adapted to such habitual use it will 

need to have a much gi r variety of features and much 

larger and more varied accommodations than ,f it were so 
remote to the population of the city on an average, that few 
would see it except occasionally and it wore only rarely to be 
d by great numbers, and then as a pic-nic an roving ground 
If it were now to be improved with a view to the latter n» 
Only, it would be impossible at a later period to change its char- 
acter by the introduction of much enlarged accommodations 
and new landscape features of interest, without destroying and 
wasting much of what had first been prepared, and this con- 

M*JL would probably prevent any but feeb nd nisnfhcic.it 

changes being made. , 

Regarding it on the other hand as an urban park, that is to 
say as a ground to which large numbers of people wdl resor 
etc v day, rather than as a remote or holiday park, it has to he 



considered that it will be but one of a series of such grounds 
and will be further from the present town centre than any of 
the otbers. It is then a question how far it should be treated 
purely as a local park. 

It is clearly most undesirable that the existing territorial 
divisions of interest and policy by which all comprehensive im- 
provement of your city are embarrassed should lie unnecessarily 
perpetuated, and with whatever motives the choice lias been 
made of the park sites now fixed in its general plan, present 
duty is first of all to the whole city. We are bound, that is to 
say, to look upon the park to be formed on your site simply as 
one member of a general system of provisions upon which as 
a whole the health of the city, its attractiveness as a residence 
and its prosperity will in all future time be largely dependent. 
In the process of design, therefore, one of the first duties is to 
study the comparative value of one or another possible function, 
or class of features or source of interest of each site. 

The marked circumstances of the South Park site when com- 
pared with the otbers are, first, the groves of comparatively 
large trees which it contains; second, the greater spaciousness 
of two of its divisions; and, third, the longer frontage and 
greater depth of that division of it which looks upon the Lake. 

The first, though it makes the Park more available for cer- 
tain purposes at an early day. is of little importance with refer- 
ence to a plan except as it may be an indication that the natural 
conditions are more favorable than elsewhere for the growth of 
large trees, and we are of opinion that with skillful manage- 
ment very much better trees than any on the South Park may lie 
grown upon each of the other park sites of the city. 

It is an advantage of great space that one part of those who 
resort to a park for recreation can be engaged in a class of 
exercises which, in order to be pursued by different parties 
without clashing, require much breadth of open ground, that 
another part can look upon the first from a suitable distance 
with convenience and safety, while a third, interested neither as 
participants nor spectators, can seclude themselves completely 
from both and straying into other parts of the Park pursue 
entire different methods of recreation. Another advantage is 



that, without any sacrifice of convenience for the class of exer- 
cises first referred to, elements of interest may be multiplied 
and yet, if the natural features oppose no obstacle, a larger, 
simpler and more tranquil landscape character be given to the 
Park as a whole. 

Of the other park sites reserved for the future benefit of 
Chicago but one offers this class of advantages in any degree to 
compare with that of the South Park, and that, as it should be, 
is the one which is at the greatest distance from it. The two 
outer divisions of the South Park being connected more directly, 
however, and. by a division considerably wider than any connect- 
ing any other two park divisions of the whole scries, it is pos- 
sible to associate them much more intimately in design than 
any other two, so that each may in many particulars comple- 
ment the other and the whole be classed together as one park. 
If we add to tin's possibility those which grow out of its 
situation with reference to the Pake, there can be little room 
for doubt that you have the opportunity, and consequently the 
duty, of adopting a scale of scenery and at certain points a scale 
of public accommodations larger than can elsewhere be attempt- 
ed, without a restriction upon design with reference to depth 
and variety of sylvan elements of interest, which would be un- 
fortunate. 

By a course of reasoning thus barely indicated, but which 
will be more evident as we proceed with the consideration of 
details, we are led to think that, while the local urban use of 
the South Park will not be unimportant, its availability for gen- 
eral purposes in which, the city as a whole will be interested is 
considerably greater than that of any other of the sites which 
have been reserved for parks. 

It follows that the South Park should belong to a third class, 
of which the type in London is found in Hyde Park with Ken- 
sington Gardens, and in Paris in the Bois de Boulogne ; a class 
which should not be a compromise between the two extremes 
first named, but in which the advantages of each should be 
completely reconciled and united. 

That some one park will be required to assume this position 
and will be more or less satisfactorily adapted to it, may, from 



the experience of other cities, be assumed and that neither of the 
others is as well suited to the purpose, must, we believe upon a 
comparison of situations, outlines and topographical conditions, 
he admitted. 

Before discussing what should be demanded in such a park 
and the availability for various required provisions of different 
parts of your ground, it is necessary that the fact should he 
recognized that none of the sites and no part of any one of the 
sites which have been reserved for parks at Chicago, would gen- 
erally elsewhere he recognized as well adapted to the purpose. 
The undertaking involved in the series is, indeed, a hold one 
and can he justified only by the conviction that a city of great 
importance to the world at large — a city which should have a 
metropolitan character and influence, and to which great num- 
bers of men should he drawn, not only on account of its com- 
mercial, but of its scientific, artistic, scholarly, domestic and 
social advantages — is here to be built upon ground plans now 
forming and foundations now laying. It is undeniable that it 
would be a most serious drawback to such a city not to he pro- 
vided with parks. It is equally undeniable that when the best 
has been done that is possible, it will be a long time before 
parks can be formed for it which will compare satisfactorily 
with such as already have been secured by most important cities 
of the civilized world. It is a courageous forecast which reasons 
from these premises that the sooner all that is done that is pos- 
sible to be done for overcoming this disadvantage of the city is 
set about, the better. 

If this is the justification of the enterprise which in its most 
important feature it has been given you to inaugurate, it fol- 
lows that while the immediate reward of those who now plan, 
prepare and tax themselves for the general good in this matter, 
should be reasonably consulted, their benefit should not he held 
of paramount importance, nor should any plan he adopted or 
anything be done with a view to their gratification, by which 
a permanent obstacle would be placed in the way of arrange- 
ments which would he appropriate and sufficient for a city of 
several times the present population and wealth of Chicago. 



9 

The general class, scope and character of the proposed park 
having been thus approximately determined, we may proceed 
to consider the limitations fixed by the conditions of the site 
upon the design. 

The first obvious defect of the site is that of its flatness. That 
this is to be regretted is undeniable, yet it is a mistake to sup- 
pose that a considerable extent of nearly flat ground is inad- 
missable or undesirable in a great park, or that it must be over- 
come, at any cost, by vast artificial elevations and depressions, 
or by covering all the surface with trivial objects of interest. 

The Central Park of New York, having been laid out for 
the most prodigal city in the world, is one of the most costly 
constructions ever made for public, open air recreation. The 
view just expressed may then be thought to be strengthened 
by the fact that one of the largest items in its cost, and un- 
questionably, one of tlic most profitable, was that for reducing 
considerable portions of its surface to a prairie-like simplicity. 
In our judgment, it still comes far short in this particular of 
what is chiefly desirable in the principal recreation ground of a 
large city, in a temperate climate. 

!t should especially be considered that where there is a broad 
meadow with ever so little obvious play of surface, an irregular 
border formed by massive bodies of foliage will in a groat degree 
supply the place in landscape of moderate bills and particu- 
larly will this be the case if it contains water in some slight 
depression, so situated as to double these masses. 

Chicago in the future would no doubt be glad if there should 
have been provided for it, somewhere within the thousand acres 
of its principal park, a considerable district of a highly pictur- 
esque character, a mountain glen with a dashing stream and 
cascades, for example, but, agreeable as this might be if it were 
to lie obtained by the simple appropriation and development of 
conditions already existing; as in the valley of Wissahickon at 
Philadelphia, it would, after all, in a thoroughly well ordered 
park, be an episode, not essential, and far less useful than a 
district of low rolling prairie. 



10 

There is but one object of scenery near Chicago of special 
grandeur or sublimity, and that, the Lake, can be made by 
artificial means no more grand or sublime. By no practical 
elevation of artificial hills, that is to say. would the impression 
of the observer in overlooking it be made greatly more profound. 
The Lake may, indeed, be accepted as fully compensating for 
the absence of sublime or picturesque elevations of land. 

There arc three elements of scenery however, which must be 
regarded as indispensable to a fine park to be formed on your 
site, the first being turf, the second foliage, the third still water. 
For each of these you are bound, at the outset, to make the best 
of your opportunities, because if you do not, posterity will be 
likely to lay waste what you have done, in order to prepare 
something better. 

Water wells up abundantly a few feet below the surface in 
nearly all parts of your ground, and may therefore be easily 
introduced when required in your plan. Turf may also be 
secured in a few years, by the common agricultural process. 
But the adequate development of foliage is not so sure and 
simple a matter. 

Great spreading trees, are the distinctive glory of all park 
scenery in which broad spaces of level greensward are the 
central features. But park-like great trees are hardly more 
natural to your conditions than hills, crags, or dashing streams. 
There is no difficulty in making young trees live and flourish in 
Chicago, but sooner or later, always before they reach what 
should be their finest estate, they seem to lose vigor, and a 
large number come to untimely death. The trees at present on 
your ground are, many of them, of considerable size, but not 
one of tbese has a character which would be of high value in a 
park. Most of them are evidently struggling for mere exist- 
ence, and the largest are nearly all decrepid. The unfortunate 
influences affecting them are of two classes, those which act 
upon the foliage, and those which act upon the root. 

In regard to the first we have seen an effect produced upon 
tender foliage and twigs by a high wind suddenly coming off 



11 

the Lake after a warm day in Spring, so remarkable that if 
often repeated it could not fail to result in permanent constitu- 
tional injury. This and other atmospheric difficulties you can- 
not expect to lessen, on the contrary, as the fumes, smoke and 
dust of the town increase, they are likely to be aggravated. 
The obvious root evils are a cold, wet. sometimes permanently 
water-soaked soil or sub-soil, and inadequate or unsuitable root 
food. By reducing the general level of the ground water as 
far as practicable, the temperature of the soil in your Upper 
Division may probably be elevated from ten to fifteen degrees 
of Fahrenheit, and the average length of the season in which 
wood will grow and ripen may lie extended about a month. 
With an improved ground temperature and deep soil, moder- 
ately rich but not at all stimulating, trees may be expected 
to grow which will possess much greater vigor and powers of 
resistance and recuperation with reference to harmful atmos- 
pheric influences than any hitherto grown under the conditions 
which naturally prevail near Chicago, and there are many of the 
most desirable species and varieties which could probably be 
brought to exhibit their peculiar beauties in the highest degree. 

The light mould at present found in some parts of your 
ground is of that character, the fertility of which is quickly ex- 
hausted, and while it should be carefully husbanded is of little 
permanent value. It will be necessary therefore to bring upon 
the ground a large amount of surface material to form a moder- 
ately rich, wholesome loam, and this operation however tedious 
and costly, should go before every other but drainage and 
grading. The turning in of a series of green crops, forced to 
rankness by stimulating manures, after a dressing of clay, will 
probably be the most economical way of improving the character 
of the soil on a large scale. 

We have spoken of the advantage which is to be gained 
by reducing the level of the ground water in the Upper Division, 
In the Lower Division one-third of all the surface is below the 
high-water level of the Lake, the greater part of the remainder 
is much too low, too wet and cold for upland trees to flourish 
upon it, and adequate drainage is out of the question. 



12 

If it should be undertaken to form a large market garden in 
such a district as this, the first thing to be clone would be, if 
possible, to secure a free outlet through the beach, so that water 
flowing in from the west would, under no circumstances, be so 
checked in its outflow as to rise appreciably higher than the 
Lake. This would be accomplished, if at all, by building out a 
crib upon the beach, and then opening a channel, the mouth of 
which would be on its south side. A series of cross channels 
would then be laid out mainly parallel with and equidistant 
from one another, the breadth, depth, and distances between 
them being so adjusted that the material excavated, when 
thrown out, should be sullicient to raise the surface of all the 
intermediate ground just so far above the level of the Lake as 
should be thought necessary for the thrifty growth of the crops 
proposed to be cultivated. 

The same process may be adopted for your purpose, with 
such modifications as the difference between a park and a 
vegetable garden requires, the difference being, that in the park 
the divisions of land and water should have a natural appear- 
ance and be interesting in landscape effect, and that they should 
be adapted to the convenient movement of a large number of 
persons pursuing recreation in a variety of ways. 

Searching for a natural type of what is thus desirable, we look 
first for local suggestions. The present formation is the result 
of an encroachment of the shore upon the Lake, and this ap- 
pears to have occurred first by the formation of a large outer 
bar, and of minor bars within it, the outer bar rising gradually 
more and more above the surface, and finally completely sepa- 
rating the water behind it. except perhaps at one or two inlets, 
from the main Lake. In subsequent storms the outer bar lias 
been more or less broken down, and sand, driven by wave and 
wind, mixed with some wash from the land side, has gradually 
filled up the inner basins. 

Had the situation been less bleak, had the outer bar been 
firmer and composed of different material, had the streams flow- 
ing in been more rapid and the country swept by them richer 
in vegetation, and had the climate been hot and moist certain 



13 

plants would have taken root upon the shallows, silt would 
have been caught by them and drift stuff lodged upon them; 
fish, birds, insects would have made contributions and soil 
would accumulate, other plants would in time overgrow the first, 
and, the process continuing, scenery would finally result of a 
most interesting and fascinating character, that, namely, of the 
wooded lagoons of the tropics. 

You certainly cannot set the madrepore or the mangrove at 
work on the banks of Lake Michigan, you cannot naturalize 
bamboo or papyrus, aspiring palm or waving parasites, but you 
can set firm barriers to the violence of winds and waves, and 
make shores as intricate, as arborescent and as densely overhung 
with foliage as any. You can have placid and limpid water 
within these shores that will mirror and double all above it as 
truly as any, and thus, if you cannot reproduce the tropical 
forest in all its mysterious depths of shade and visionary reflec- 
tions of light, you can secure a combination of the fresh and 
healthy nature of the North with the restful, dreamy nature 
of the South, that would in our judgment be admirably fitted to 
the general purposes of any park, and which certainly could 
nowhere be more grateful than in the borders of your city, not 
only on account of the present intensely wide-awake character of 
its people, but because of the special quality of the scenery about 
Chicago in which flat and treeless prairie and limitless expanse 
of lake are such prominent characteristics. 

Taste and convenience would require that some portions of 
the lagoon waters should be broader than the economy of a 
mere market garden would prescribe, but to avoid great length 
of haul in filling over the marshy ground, the water spaces 
would need to be distributed from end to end and from the 
beach to the rear of the Lower Division. 

This course of thought leads towards two important conclu- 
sions, viz.: 1st. By any feasible and moderately economical 
plan of making a public pleasure resort on your Lower Division, 
water must be so distributed through it that the land will be 
broken up into comparatively small areas and no great breadth 



14 

of green landscape will be available. 2d. Command of the 
Lake upon a shore line of more than a mile and a half in 
length; accessibility from the heart of the city by water- 
passage, and the great extent and necessary ramifications of its 
interior waters would give such marked distinctions to this part 
of the Park, that, so long as they were in view, a comparison 
of it with parks elsewhere, more fortunate in other respects, 
would be out of the question. For beauty of hill and dale your 
ground certainly will never be distinguished; it may never be 
for the grandeur of its trees, but it may have a beauty and an 
interest of its own such as we have partly indicated, in which 
the citizens of Chicago for generations to come, shall take a 
just pride, and all the more so that it lias been the result of 
their fathers' work upon a sand-bar. 

In every distinct field of design, however multitudinous the 
intentions to be served in its details, some one source of interest 
should dominate, and either by contrast or harmony, all details 
should be auxiliary to this central interest. In a work of the 
kind before us there may be — almost necessarily must b< — 
several more or less distinct fields of design, but it is desirable 
that there should be a studied artistic relation of support by 
harmony, and of emphasis by contrast of character between the 
different fields. The clement of interest which undoubtedly 
should be placed first, if possible, in the park of any great city, 
is that of an antithesis to its bustling, paved, rectangular, 
walled-in streets; this requirement would best be met by a Large 
meadowy ground, of an open, free, tranquil character. The 
necessity of sub-dividing the ground by the ramifications of the 
water system, and of generally planting the shores, if you would 
gain the beauty or reflections, half-lights, and shaded coves of 
foliage over water, as we have proposed, will prevent your realiz- 
ing any considerable breadth of open landscape within your 
Lower Division. It will lie equally impossible within your 
Middle Division, on account of its narrowness. Fortunately, 
there is no similar objection to the realization of this desider- 
atum in the Upper Division, the proper general landscape char- 
acter of which, as well as that of the Lower Division, may thus 
be considered as determined. 



15 

We proceed to consider what is required more specifically in 
the Lower Division. It naturally divides into two fields of land- 
scape, the exterior Lake expanse with its necessarily simple, raw, 
storm-lashed foreground, and the interior Lagoon scenery, intri- 
cate, sequestered, sylvan and rich in variety of color and play 
of light and shade, both having the common and continuous 
element of water. Still, considering this park as the principal 
recreation ground of the city and one in which more than any 
other a general attendance from all parts of the city should be 
expected, invited, and prepared for, the fact remains that the 
distance to it from the centre and more northern quarters is 
so long that the access to it by land will be often uninteresting 
and tedious. Were it to be very much more so, mere approach 
by land to the Park wholly impracticable, as from Venice to 
the Lido, the means of access by water and the connection of 
the Park by water with the heart of the commercial part of the 
city would be so admirable that under ordinarily favorable con- 
ditions of weather, there would be thousands of the very class of 
citizens whose convenience most needs to be considered, to whom 
the Park would practically begin at the mouth of the Chicago 
river. Where great numbers are to lie carried short distances, 
there is no transportation so cheap or so agreeable as that by 
water, and the time should be expected when the toiling popula- 
tion of Chicago, relieved from work at an early hour on the last 
of the week, will be carried to the South Park by many tens of 
thousands at the cost of a few cents. Its advantages in this 
respect will correspond to those of the Haga Park of Stockholm, 
one of the most popular and delightful public grounds in the 
world. 

Aside from the actual advantages of access which it thus 
offers, it is most desirable that whatever sources of interest there 
may be in the Lake should be as closely as possible associated 
with those of the Park and be made to appear, as much as pos- 
sible, part and parcel of the Park. The introduction of artificial 
water with natural outlines and no perceptible current, so near 
the great Lake, is, as a matter of Art, not a little hazardous, 
and to fully insure it against a paltry and childish aspect it is 
indispensable that the character of the Lagoon as an arm of the 



1G 

Lake should be distinctly manifest. For this reason the chan- 
nel between the water of the Lake and the water within the 
Park should be given importance in the design, so that at all 
times, even when few or no boats are passing, this privilege 
of the Park will be felt by land visitors as an important dis- 
tinction. 

The channel must be cut through the beach, the break in it 
being guarded against the drift of sand from the northward by a 
pier, which should be fully two hundred feet in length, in order 
to create a strong eddy at the mouth of the inlet. It must 
be presumed that in any case the channel will need occasional 
dredging. 

Such a pier would be the most prominent object connecting 
the Park with the Lake, and experience shows that where an 
offset into the water from a tame coast has been thus formed 
people are strongly drawn to gather upon and near it. 80 well 
established is this attraction that at many of the places of resort 
on the English and French coasts, long piers have been built 
simply for the gratification of visitors. 

For these reasons the pier and inlet must lie treated as most 
important member of the design; they should not be thrust 
into a corner, but located as near to the heart of the Park as 
possible, and as visitors will inevitably be drawn to the pier 
special provision should be planned for the comfortable coming 
together of a large number in connection with it. From the 
view of the Lake which these would command, the transition 
should be made easy and natural to some other point, also 
adapted to the coining together of large numbers, which will 
have a like central position with reference to the Lagoon. 

We wish to present one other class of preliminary considera- 
tions before referring to our plans. Among the purposes for 
which public grounds are used is that of an arena for athletic 
sports, such as base ball, foot ball, cricket, and running games, 
such as prisoner's base, and others which are liable to come again 
much more in fashion than they have been of late. Another is 
that of a ground for parades, reviews, drills, processions and 
public meetings and ceremonies in which large spaces are re- 



17 

quired. Experience shows that neither upon fields used for 
these purposes nor on ground where large numbers of people are 
liable to come together strongly interested in them, is it practi- 
cable to guard shrubs and low branching trees from injury. 
For all these purposes turf is much more favorable to the skill 
and comfort of those engaged in the exercises and more agree- 
able to the eye of spectators than gravel; it is also generally 
much less costly. If at any particular point, however, it is 
much used it wears out and leaves unsightly and slippery ground 
in its stead. Consequently it is impossible to keep grounds used 
for these purposes in decent order unless the open fields of turf 
are very large and the plantations about them are of an open 
character, and composed almost wholly of strong, clean trunked 
trees. 

It is also impossible to keep grounds in good order in which 
the breadths of turf are smaller and dec-orated with shrubbery 
and low foliage, if the same freedom of movement and action 
is permitted in them which it is desirable to allow upon the 
larger open grounds. Consequently an entirely different scheme 
of regulations needs to be applied to them. To enable these to 
he enforced the line between one class of grounds and the 
other must be sharply defined so that it cannot be passed un- 
consciously even under excitement. 

The distinction between grounds to be used by day only, and 
grounds to be open night and day, needs also to be considered. 
It is impossible to make grounds in the midst of large towns 
which offer numerous places el' complete obscurity, safe places 
of general resort after nightfall. Wherever it has been attempt- 
ed in Europe or America, decent people have soon been driven 
from them, and they have become nurseries of crime and 
immorality. 

The tarry vapor which escapes from gas-pipes is poisonous to 
trees, and grounds which are closely planted, or which abound 
in shrubs and underwood, cannot be so lighted artificially that 
their landscape beauty may be enjoyed, or so that those wishing 
concealment in them can be clearly recognized, and their move- 
ments surely followed. Eor Ibis reason, when such grounds are 



18 

not closed at dusk, they require a much larger police force by 
night than by day, and it is always questionable whether, at 
best, their advantages for evil purposes do not outweigh those 
for good. 

Disregarding here very small places we thus show a neces- 
sity for two classes of grounds, one characterized by broad, 
nearly level spaces of turf suitable for reviews and athletic 
exercises, and open plantations offering no coverts, and which 
may be artificially lighted and safely resorted to after nightfall ; 
the other, not designed to be artificially lighted nor to be used at 
night, adapted only to quiet and moderate exercises; in which 
shrubbery, underwood and brooding trees may be common ele- 
ments of scenery, and if circumstances admit of it, what is 
technically styled the picturesque in distinction from the simply 
beautiful in nature may be cultivated. 

The scenery of the first class of grounds is distinctively 
"park scenery," because the private parks of Europe are gener- 
ally pastured by deer or cattle, and consequently, up to a 
distinct browsing line, are clear of foliage. The scenery of the 
second class is that of what is usually distinguished from the 
park as the "pleasure ground" or "kept ground," being man- 
aged in a more garden-like way. We shall term the first 
"open/' and shall apply the old word "plaisastce" to such as 
is intended to be enclosed with a high fence and used only 
by day. 

Your territory is so extensive and so large a population may 
be expected eventually to resort exclusively to it for out-door 
recreation that it is clear that provision of both classes should 
be found in it, and its extreme points being three miles apart 
(exclusive of the Parkways), it should not even be necessary 
for a boy who has reached one end to go half around it to find 
himself free to run upon the turf, or that a man living near 
it and going out after dusk with his wife and daughters, should 
find no better place in which to stroll than an ordinary street 
side-walk. For these reasons there should be enough "open" 
ground at least for local use, night and day, near each of the 
extreme parts of your plan. 



19 

It is impracticable to close any ground at night through 
which important thoroughfares are carried unless by the ex- 
pedient of carrying one line of transit under another as in the 
New York Park. This is a costly arrangement and can rarely 
be used so that landscape opportunities shall not be marred by 
it ; it should only be adopted therefore under considerations of 
special necessity. 

We are instructed that your Upper Division must be crossed 
by a thoroughfare near its middle from east to west. It is not 
to be hoped and there is no reason to believe that there ever will 
be a business quarter on the east side of this ground, nor at 
least very near it on the west. As the space in the east is quite 
limited and is likely to be occupied almost exclusively with 
dwellings of people of wealth, and therefore not densely, there 
is not likely to be much need for driving through the Park 
except with pleasure carriages. Coal, building materials, hay, 
and most market supplies will be brought in from the north, 
and the principal occasion for crossing with business wagons 
will be early in the morning, as of milkmen and bakers. Under 
these circumstances the movement of pleasure carriages is not 
likely to be so unpleasantly interfered with as at all to justify 
the construction of a sunken traffic road across the Park. The 
only important question involved is as to the night use. witb 
which we shall deal presently. 



We shall now refer to our plans, which are upon three sheets: 
No. 1 representing the Upper Division ; No. 2, the space six 
hundred feet wide connecting it with the Lower Division, which 
is sbown on No. 3. 

The Upper and Lower Divisions are each subdivided into an 
open and an enclosed ground, and the whole of the Middle 
Division is enclosed. The open ground of the Upper Division 
is designated the Southopen Ground; the other looking upon 
the Lake, the Lakeopen Ground; different parts of the en- 
closed ground are designated respectively the Upper Plaisaxce. 
the Midway Plaisance, and the Lagoon Plaisance. 



20 

The various subdivisions are connected by a common system 
of drives and walks, as well as by the arrangement of water. 
The drives are generally forty feet wide. In the Midway 
Division, where there are two parallel stretches so near together 
as almost to form one, the width of each part is thirty-five feet, 
and on the Lake shore, where carriages are likely to be driven 
hack and forth repeatedly, and the number wishing to occupy 
the road is likely to be larger than elsewhere, the width is in- 
creased to fifty feet. 

Five open places are also introduced in the system, each two 
or more acres in extent, in order to allow carriages to stand 
together, so that their occupants may engage in conversation, 
listen to music or look upon some prospect of special interest, 
without interrupting the circulation upon the drives. 

We have presumed that the same principle of construction 
which has been applied in the Lincoln Park drives would be 
adopted in yours, the conditions of the ground and the materials 
at your command being similar, while it is probable that with 
the use of a heavy steam roller, more efficient arrangements for 
drainage and more care in details, a road may thus be formed 
more agreeable than the best stone or concrete roads, and at 
much less cost. Two stretches of bridle road are introduced on 
a part of the ground where there will be no occasion for any one 
to be walking. Equestrians may thus have an opportunity to 
gallop at speed, but, as, with the unusual extent of ordinary 
roads provided for, their length being about fourteen miles, they 
are seldom likely to be much crowded with carriages, and as, 
with the construction suggested, they will be satisfactory under 
the saddle as well as in carriages, we have not thought it neces- 
sary to indicate any great extent of roads designed especially 
for riding. Should it be desired, a pad may be introduced by 
the side of the ordinary road anywhere in the Upper or Lower 
Division, or a bridle road thrown off on the west and south 
sides of the Lower Division in the same manner as in the upper. 
Thirty miles of walks are indicated with similar arrangements 
for occasional congregation, the more important of which will 
be referred to in the description of the several subdivisions of the 
plan which follows. 



21 

The Southopen ground, which will be found on the left 
of plan No. 1, consists simply of a nearly level meadow with a 
grove of large trees surrounding it on all sides but one, where 
the character of the plantation, as it is extended into the ad- 
joining closed district, cbanges to that of a denser and more 
picturesque wood, with glades of turf reaching far into it from 
the meadow. Entering the park from either of the two prin- 
cipal approaches from the city, the visitor, as he passes through 
the outer grove, will thus find a view opening before him over 
a greensward without a perceptible break, considerably beyond 
the limits of the Open Ground itself, and ending in one direc- 
tion in a glimmer of water reflecting tall trees nearly a mile 
away. Advancing further, if late in the day, the shadows of 
the trees falling across the meadow, will be a quarter of a mile 
in length, sheep and cows will be grazing upon it and boys and 
men playing here and there, as on a village green. A carriage 
road passes around it, on each side of which, at a short distance, 
there are walks with numerous branches and connections, one 
series under the shade of the grove and the other upon the open 
green. The space of turf inclosed by the circuit drive contains 
a hundred acres, and the space available for reviews is about the 
same as that of the Champ de Mars at Paris, and much larger 
than any parade or play ground thus far provided for anywhere 
in this country. 

Of the two approaches which have been referred to, one is 
planned more especially with reference to the rapid movement 
of a great number of persons driving, riding or walking, being 
planted openly with the straight rows of clean trunked trees. 
This, having in mind its terminus as well its plan, we have 
designated the Southopen Parkway. The other is designed 
with a view to more quiet and leisurely movement, and its 
principal feature is a walk or series of walks passing somewhat 
indirectly through a grove with frequent interludes of shrub- 
bery, fountains and arbors to invite rest and contemplation. 
This we have accordingly designated the Southgrove Parkway. 
In a town where local nomenclature can so rarely be based 
on topographical circumstances, any tolerable names of this class 
should be welcomed. Even if they seem outlandish at first, if at 



22 

all euphonious, a very little usage makes them familiar and 
much more agreeable than arbitrary names. 

The third grand approach to the Park will enter the South- 
open Ground from the west near its southern end, and from 
this point, which in the afternoon would be chosen as the best 
for looking across the Green, we have planned arrangements for 
the principal place of assemblage of the upper park. At the 
junction of roads from four directions there is a Concourse 
for carriages; in its rear a stand for music; back of this again 
an extensive area covered by trellises and surrounded by gal- 
leries, one of which, overlooking the Concourse and the Green, 
is intended to serve the purpose of a grand stand on occasion of 
parades, match games and exhibitions. To this series of struc- 
tures is added a large Refectory building, and the whole, on 
account of its open-sided character, is termed the Pavilion. 
Promenade concerts are designed to be held here, the audience, 
not in carriages, walking on or under the galleries or in alleys 
under the vine-covered trellises, at the sides of which will he 
scats and tables for ices and coffee. 

Being on the Open Ground the Refectory need not be closed 
at night. 

The Pavilion may be brilliantly illuminated and fireworks 
may be safely exhibited on the Green opposite, where they will 
l)e seen to great advantage from the front gallery. The public 
road here crossing the park, being also entirely within the Open 
Ground, may be open at night. 

The grand approach from the west entering the park in front 
of the Pavilion, we have designated the Pavilion Parkway. 

It has been shown that in the view from the north end of the 
Green no line of demarcation is designed to be seen at its south 
boundary. To accomplish this a broad artificial depression in 
the southern part of the Green will be required, the needed 
depth at the middle not being more than two feet. South of the 
transverse road a deeper excavation is to be made for a small 
pool, at each end of which will be an island which will receive 
the fence, the pool serving as a fence across the intermediate 



23 

space. The water of this pool will not be seen in the view from 
the north end of the Green but the eye will range over it and 
through a continuation of the depression, southerly, to the more 
distant water. 

The Southopcn Ground will need no enclosure except a low 
guard rail; (of course, in saying this we presume that cattle 
will not be allowed to range through the adjoining streets.) 
The grass should be kept short by a sufficient number of sheep 
and a few cows, the milk of which may be sold by the glass 
to visitors as is clone in St. James' Park in London. 

We have before indicated the advantages of an open ground 
thus detached for certain purposes, though artistically united 
to the enclosed portion of the park. As the practical application 
of our views will now, however, be better understood, we reca- 
pitulate them: 

1st, The arrangement avoids the temptation which has else- 
where been found irresistible to trespass upon the enclosed park 
for purposes which within it are illegal, destructive and de- 
moralizing, such as military and semi-military parades and 
political demonstrations. 

2d, It reduces and strictly defines the area within which it is 
necessary to require visitors to conform themselves to regula- 
tions of a special character, and desirable that they should be 
under special police observation. 

3rd, It enables the park authority to exclude visitors from 
the enclosed grounds without forcing them to leave the park 
altogether, the outer ground offering all necessary advantage for 
air, exercise and recreation from a short time after sunset till 
after sunrise. It thus brings much of the necessary attendance 
upon visitors within the limits of a day's service, so that within 
the enclosed ground one set of men will answer for it instead 
of two. 

4th. It makes a much greater freedom from restraint practi- 
cable on greensward play grounds than could be permitted with 
safety if they were surrounded by closely planted or finely 
decorated grounds. 



24 

5th, It simplifies and reduces the expense of keeping the 
ground in order. 

Against the advantages there is to be placed the necessity of 
keeping the Open Ground very well lighted and patrolled at 
night, and the artistic disadvantage of dispensing with under- 
wood within its borders. The latter objection is of less weight 
in this case than it would be if the distance from the Green to 
any exterior and incongruous objects were not so great. 

South of this Open Ground lies the enclosed district, which 
we have designated the Upper Plaisance. 

Adjoining the entrance to it on the side of the Pavilion, a 
mall will be observed having the form of a hall nearly a quarter 
of a mile in length, out of which, near its centre, four square 
apartments open. The outlines are marked by rows of trees 
and the floor is of gravel. The object is to provide a convenient 
open air rendezvous and assembly ground for large pic-nic 
parties and for societies, fraternities, Sunday school and other 
organizations, and also to supply a suitable ground for such 
plays as would lie destructive to turf. The four square apart- 
ments are also designed with reference to entertainments and 
exhibitions in which the use of stagings or platforms may lie 
desirable, as in the festivals of the Turners. 

Formal lines are here introduced in the , plan because the same 
clear space of shaded ground thus bounded will be more com- 
modious and will admit of a greater degree of freedom of 
movement when occupied by a large number of persons than 
any other. Outside of the lines of trees other trees are disposed 
irregularly, so that the formality of the arrangement, although 
so conspicuous on the paper plan, will not destroy the general 
naturalness of the landscape design of this division of the park. 

At the east central entrance of the Mall there is a desceni 
to a landing on the Mere, which is the bead of the boating water 
of the Park. 

On the opposite side of the Mere there is a Paddock, seven 
acres in extent, for deer. These will appear from the Mall to be 
free, but are to be confined by an under-water fence, as it is not 
safe for deer to range where there are children. 



25 

The walks opening southward from the Mall lead into a 
flower garden attached to which are shrubbery walks, sheltered 
seats, and balconies over the water. 

The northern part of the Mall looks eastwardly upon a lawn. 
the edges planted with shrubbery and divided by a knoll, closely 
planted with trees and underwood, from the Deer Paddock. 

■Still further to the east the lawn merges into a large glade 
of turf terminating at the lower part on the Merc near the 
south-east corner of the Division. 

The walks leading eastward from the glade pass into a region 
of broken ground, designated as the Ramble on the plan, to be 
formed by excavating deeply for the walks and mounding the 
material thus obtained between them. It is to be planted 
thickly; mostly with large shrubs, and to be made as shady, 
sequestered and picturesque in the character of its details as 
practicable. It will be desirable that a few small ledges of rock 
should be transferred to it, and ferns, mosses and alpine plants 
used in connection with them but only in a very simple and 
delicately natural manner. It is also to be finished with sub- 
stantial seats and arbors. 

The outer parts of the Upper Plaisance on each side, through 
which the drives are carried, are to have the character of rather 
dense natural woods, affording an agreeable change from the 
Open Ground. 

A stable and sheds for the deer, and the sheep and cows to 
be kept in the Open, for the birds that will require winter pro- 
tection and for such horses, carts, etc., as may be required, and 
a house for the stock keeper, are provided in the enclosure, 
(named the Farmstead Close on the plan), east of the Deer 
Paddock. 

The plan of the Midway Plaisance is shown on drawing No. 
2. The earth excavated in making the Basin and the drives 
and walks, which are to be at an elevation of four feet only 
above the water, is to be mounded as naturally as possible on 
each side, the more elevated parts being generally planted 
centrally with trees and in front with shrubbery : the recesses, 



26 

which will be glades of turf with a few detached groups of 
shrubs, will reach with slightly undulating slope nearly or quite 
to the side walks of the adjoining streets. 

These streets are proposed to be widened to eighty-six feet, 
ten feet of which would be taken off the park ground: the 
side-walk being planted with a double row of trees, the opposite 
houses would not be unpleasantly conspicuous from the water 
and land ways of the Park. 

Three streets are proposed to be carried across the Midway 
besides those at its end; the water-way, carriage-way and walks 
of the park system passing under viaducts. As the track of the 
Illinois Central Railway is too low to pass under with car- 
riages, and as we are informed by the Engineer of the Company 
that it can not be sufficiently raised, it is designed to be arched 
over, the trains upon it being kept out of view by a parapet of 
earth and shrubbery. 

An open area, designated Midway Place, in two symmetrical 
parts, connected by a bridge over the Basin, terminates the 
Midway Plaisance on the east. As will be seen on drawing 
No. 3, to which we now turn, it opens to the right upon that 
division of the closed ground which we have designated the 
Lagoon Plaisance; on the left, upon the Lake Open Ground, 
and looking east, commands a view over the head of the 
Lagoon through a gradually narrowing perspective of points 
and islands, with the Lake seen through a depression of the 
dunes which are here to be clothed with prostrate shrubs. 

In studying the general arrangement of parts in the Lower 
Division we have already shown that the feature of most con- 
trolling importance is the Pier, and have stated the considera- 
tions which approximately fix its position. A natural ridge, 
partly wooded, the longitudinal axis of which is nearly at right 
angles with the coast line, indicates the most desirable course 
for the outlet and entrance channel and consequently establishes 
more precisely the proper place for the Pier. 

We suppose that a public road will be formed along the beach 
beyond the park limits, each way, and have considered that 



27 

when the region south of the east half of the Lagoon Division 
of the Park shall have become populous, a route or routes of 
communication between it and the north side of the Park more 
direct than is afforded by Hyde Park Avenue, will be of con- 
siderable importance, and also that access from it to the boats 
running between the Park and Chicago river, will lie very 
desirable. At the same time it is of even more importance that 
small steamers and sail boats should be able at all times to 
make a harbor at the Park, and a drawbridge at the harbor's 
mouth is not only to be deprecated on account of its inconven- 
ience, but because by establishing a harsh and conspicuous line 
across the channel, it would be most unfavorable to an im- 
pression of unity between the Park and the Lake. 

These conflicting objects of a continuous shore road and of a 
harbor opening by an unbridged channel upon the Lake, are 
as far as possible harmonized by a detour of the shore road, 
which following closely the hank of the channel and the Park 
Haven, is returned upon an island with two bridges towards 
the Lake shore, and passes out of the Park at its south east 
corner. A branch road leads westerly out of the Park from the 
point of the detour furthest from the Lake, offering a short-cut 
to I be middle parts of the region south of the Park. The Park 
gates and fence are then placed west of this branch and of the 
shore road front end to end, so that they may always be left 
open, together with the harbour, for use at night. A large 
Green is also thrown out at the north end, indicated as the 
Lakeopeh Green, and a smaller Green outside of the harbour 
at the south end, the latter designated the Park Haven Green. 
These are intended more especially for ball playing and other 
athletic exercises, and each is provided with a lodge for dress- 
ing rooms and the shelter of lookers-on at the games. The whole 
is adapted like the Southopen Ground, to be lighted and left 
open at night. 

The Lakeopen Green is at the nearest point of this division 
of the park to the town and is entered directly from a station 
of the Illinois Central and Michigan Central railways. Visitors 
taking this way out may be engaged in ball playing or floating 



28 

on the Lagoon within half an hour after they have left a school 
house, an office or a shop in the midst of the city. In London 
excursion trains frequently take over fifty thousand people an 
hour to or from the Crystal Palace Park at Sydenham, at a 
charge of a penny a mile. 

As the water of the Lagoon will probably he much warmer 
than that of the Lake, it is suggested that arrangements for 
bathing and swimming in the north hay should lie made at the 
house indicated in the plan opposite the Lakeopen Green. 

Within the Lakeopen Ground there are two places especially 
adapted to Large assemblies, one at the Pier, the other on the 
lake shore in front of the Park Haven Green. The latter is in 
the form of a terrace and gives the outer position to carriages. 
On the Pier a broad walking space is arranged outside of the 
carriage Concourse and from the solid pier which extends 250 
feet outward from the present shore line, a narrower open work 
pier is proposed, to eventually extend to a block about a thou- 
sand feet further out. 

Immediately behind the Concourse on the Pier a large build- 
ing will be observed, designated the Belvedere, which would be 
the principal refectory of this Division of the Park. It fronts 
on one side upon the Lake, on the other upon a lawn which 
slopes to a hay opening upon the middle of the Lagoon, opposite 
which is a cluster of islands in a wooded cove. An elevated out- 
look is intended to be here provided for, and this suggests the 
name of the building. 

The Belvedere lawn, which is within the Lagoon Plaisance, 
and would he entered from the Belvedere by doors closed at 
night, extends on the south to the central feature of this 
division of the plan, a Promenade Concert Ground upon a Ter- 
race formally planted. The Park gate being open at the head 
of the harbour, carriages pass readily south of the lawn to the 
Concourse south of the Terrace platform, the trees upon which 
are arranged with reference to the view northward, which ex- 
tends through a long vista formed by narrows of the Lagoon; 
the vista point being a Kiosk, seen beyond a bridge, at the 



29 

head of the South Bay. The Orchestra is to be stationed upon 
a small island, and the music, floating over the water, will reach 
the Pic-nic woods on the west and the walks upon the Belve- 
dere lawn on the east, as well as the terrace, where the principal 
part of the audience, both on foot and in carriages, is expected to 
assemble. The correspondence of the principal features of the 
plan from the Pier to the Lagoon Terrace with the require- 
ments developed in the earlier part of this Beport, will be 
evident. 

The Pic-nic district above referred to includes the best of the 
woods now growing upon the grounds. It is to be further 
planted in groups and open groves and near the water with 
underwood, and fitted with swings and other means of amuse- 
ment. A cottage with separate accommodations and attendance 
for men and women and several shelters or summer houses 
looking upon the Lagoon will also be observed. There are open 
glades for croquet parties and children's dances. Further to the 
southward there are shaded drives and walks through deeper 
woods. 

There is a Quay on the Park Haven for steamboats and 
masted boats that cannot pass the bridges, and at different 
points on the Lagoon nine boat landings, to each of which a 
sheltered seat is attached. A number of other sites are indi- 
cated for shelters and bowers, and balconies over the water. 

It will be observed that there are numerous islands without 
boat landings; some of these are intended to be specially pro- 
tected against the approach of boats by flat, rushy shores, the 
object being to provide entirely isolated and sequestered coverts 
as breeding places for birds. The Lagoon is intended to be 
abundantly stocked with all water fowl that will endure the 
climate, and your Commission is recommended to lake early 
measures to procure and domesticate the American swan and 
other fine birds of the upper lakes and of the far West. 

The increase of such birds will be in request for the Zoological 
Gardens and private parks of Europe, and black swans or other 
rare and beautiful birds of Asia, Australia, and the Antarctic 
regions would lie gladly exchanged for them. The bleak and 



30 

humid situation of Chicago is most unfavorable for general 
Zoological or Botanical gardens, but in Ornithology a better 
living collection could very soon be established in your ground 
than now exists in the world. Tli complete success of the recent 
attempt to naturalize the English sparrow, of which thousands 
are now propagated every year in the New York and Brooklyn 
parks, and which has completely relieved those cities and their 
suburbs of a serious nuisance, indicates that a little enterprise 
in this direction might be expected to accomplish results of greai 
interest. The naturalization of some of the common song birds 
of the north of Europe, which would lie a delightful acquisition, 
is probably quite feasible and the process would not be expensive 
if undertaken in connection with a general aviary establishment. 

If a voluntary organization should be formed for this pur- 
pose of sufficient strength, the exclusive use might be given it 
of all desirable ground for breeding purposes, together with 
the privilege of establishing a museum and convenient offices 
in the park, proper guarantees of public benefit being agreed 
upon. The Ornithological Society of London is thus accom- 
modated in St. James's Park. If desired, inconspicuous ar- 
rangements may also be studied out on the Lower Division of 
the Park for special classes of animals to which the circum- 
stances would be congenial, as Bisons, Elks, Bears: or amphib- 
ians, as Seals and Sea Lions; the general rule being observed, 
to admit nothing in the management of which a distinguished 
success, without sacrifice of matters of more primary interest, 
cannot be confidently expected. No bird or animal should be 
allowed in the Park which will not surely be healthy and 
happy in it. 

The manner in which the water is disposed in all of the 
Lower Division is such that except at a few narrow points of 
connection, it occupies only a part of the ground which is 
now flooded or liable to be so when the Lake is highest. The 
water surface of the Lagoon will be 165 acres in extent at 
ordinary summer level. An excavation sufficient to give a gen- 
eral depth of 6 feet, with slopes of 6 to 1. will yield ahoul 
1,300,000 yards of material. This will be sufficient to add 
about 2 feet to the general elevation of the rest of the Division. 



31 

We suppose that 2 to 4 inches of clay, brought from without 
will be mixed with this to give trees a better support. The 
surface of most of the land will then lie from 4 to 4^ feet 
above the highest ordinary, and 2 to 2^ above the occasional ex- 
traordinary summer level of the Lake. A less general elevation 
than this could not, ia our judgment, be made agreeable to 
the eye, nor would it be wholesome for any but a few aquatic 
trees. 

The outlines of the shores of the Lagoon may at first sight 
seem to lie unduly complicated, but the introduction of nu- 
merous points and narrow islands is here demanded by consid- 
erations of cost as much as by fidelity to the type of natural 
sceuery which is had in view. 

The same water level is designed to be carried through the 
Midway Basins to the Mere, and economy will probably require 
that the excavation of the Lagoon shall precede that of the 
Midway Basin, the Basin that of the Mere, and the Mere 
the shaping of the surface generally of the Upper Plaisance. 
The depth of water in the Midway, should also be at least 6 
feet, in summer, or there will be trouble with water plants. 
It will then fall everywhere to 4 during the skating season. 

If it were not for the experience of other cities where the 
cost of forming parks lias been more than met by the increased 
taxable valuation of real estate benefited by them, and for 
the rise in the value of certain property which has already ac- 
crued on account of the South Park undertaking, the excavation 
for water required by the plan won Id probably be thought too 
costly to be soon entered upon. Even as it is, it may be ques- 
tioned whether the delay which will be involved by it in meet- 
ing the expectations upon which the present value of property 
depends, will not, after a time, be so disappointing as to render 
advisable some different plan of dealing with the Middle and 
LTpper Divisions, dispensing with the water connection, and 
giving the public the use of the ground sooner in a finished 
condition. 

We shall give some reasons for thinking that nothing would 
really be gained by such a course. 



32 

The expectations upon which the rise in the value of real 
estate has depended and will depend, arc partly of a definite 
and partly of a very indefinite character. A few years ago the 
district more especially affected by the undertaking of the South 
Park was commonly regarded as waste land and as hardly sus- 
ceptible of much improvement. Whatever change has occurred 
in the public judgment in this respect is due, in the first place, 
to the results of private enterprise by which it has been proved 
that it can generally lie relieved of surfa.ee water, be clothed with 
fine greensward, and that trees can, up to a certain point at 
least, be made to flourish upon it. These experiments give 
definite and tangible ground of expectation as to its future. 
But beyond this, secondly, there is a blind faith that your Com- 
mission, having larger proportionate means at command, and 
being able to direct a business-like study to the question of the 
possibilities of improvement, will find a way to do more on a 
large scale than private enterprise has yet done even on a 
small scale. Suppose, then, that after several years work, a 
finish shall have been given to the whole of the Upper and 
Middle Divisions, but that the character of this finish does not 
vary materially from that of the adjoining door yards as they 
are now seen, the improvements by drainage, manuring, green- 
sward and tree planting having been essentially the same. The 
result would be that nothing more would be found in the 
Park than the realization of the defined and experimentally 
grounded expectations of the present, and it may be doubted 
whether this would not really be somewhat disappointing. 

Bid suppose ; on the other hand that, with less extent cf 
superficial finish, it should be evident that the operations in 
progress were to result in much more substantial far-reaching 
improvements than had been definitely imagined — improve- 
ments of a really organic character, directly affecting the whole 
region — it is clear that it would not only satisfy, but induce a 
strong advance upon, present expectations. 

The great increase in the value of real estate produced 
by the construction of the Xew York park did not begin 
until sometime after it was commenced, nor until the public 
began to see that the ground had much greater capabilities 



33 

than had ai first been imagined. The President of the Brook- 
lyn Park Commission, in a public address two years ago, quot- 
ing a statement that the opening of a small part of the park 
the previous year had caused an advance of real estate in that 
city to the amount of ten millions of dollars, observed that il 
was not because the public then first realized that the city was 
to have a park, hut because the character of the first improve- 
ments which had been made for the purpose really advanced the 
rank of the city in the public estimation and suddenly caused 
a new class of expectations to be formed of its future. 

Looking again at the Baltimore and Philadelphia parks, the 
natural advantages of the sites of which are much greater than 
those possessed in New York and Brooklyn, and where the 
improvements thus far made though quite extensive, have been 
of a more superficial and commonplace class, we find that they 
have produced no very extraordinary increase of value in neigh- 
boring real estate. 

Among the advantages of the plan we propose, which would 
he permanently barred by the substitution for it of any plan 
which eoidd be executed very much more cheaply and quickly, 
are the following: 

First. It secures a deep thorough drainage of the Upper 
and Middle Divisions, and thus adds greatly to the chances 
of making trees flourish upon them. 

Second. It locks the three divisions of the Park into one 
obvious system, so that their really disjointed character will 
be much less impressed upon the minds of observers passing 
through them than would be the ease if the connecting ele- 
ment of a common body of water were lacking. 

Third. It practically places the Upper or Inland Division 
of the Park upon a navigable arm of Lake Michigan and thus 
makes it accessible by boats from the heart of the commercial 
{tart of the city. The aquatic character of the Park will thus 
be more remarkable. It will also he an advantage that the water 
fowl and fish may swim freely between the Upper Plaisance and 
the Lake. The skating advantage is also obvious. 



34 

Fourth. It offers to those coming by rail, in public car- 
riages, or on foot, a means of traveling through nearly all parts 
of the Park quietly, agreeably and without fatigue, and by a 
method much less expensive than that of wheeled carriages. 
This will be of great value to invalids, convalescents, and 
mothers with children in arms. There is a very limited extent 
of water in the New York Park, yet it is found that from four 
to six thousand persons use the small boats daily, in fine 
weather, and at a charge of ten cents they yield a satisfactory 
profit. 

Fifth. The material excavated from the Basins and .Mere 
will, if skillfully used upon the banks, overcome, to a certain 
extent, the chief landscape defect of all the Chicago pleasure 
grounds, namely, their nearly level surface. Presuming that 
the work will be done by steam dredges, in no other way can 
so considerable an improvement in this respect he made as 
cheaply. Here, therefore, if anywhere, the city can afford a lit- 
tle luxury in undulation. 

Sixth. By offering upon the Midway and Upper Plaisances 
to the view of those who come to the Park in boats a shore with, 
generally, much higher banks than it will ho practicable to form 
upon the Lagoon, the value of the boating privileges of the 
Park, and consequently of its Lake approach, will lie greatly 
increased. 

Seventh. The incidental effect of this operation upon all 
the country surrounding the Park as well as that within it Avill 
be most valuable. It will gradually bring about a change in 
its character equivalent to that which would be gained by lift- 
ing its surface several feet above its present level. It will 
make gardens practicable where otherwise nothing but swamp 
plants will grow. It will at once make a considerable dis- 
trict suitable for residences which will otherwise remain not 
only unwholesome for that purpose within itself, but a source 
of ill health to others until a costly system of sewers has been 
constructed. In connection with the better growth of trees 
which will result, the climate of the whole south part of the 
city will be essentially improved by it, so much so, for instance, 



35 

that there will be appreciably less liability to rheumatic and 
pulmonary complaints and the epidemics of children. 

In view of the advantages thus promised, it would, in our 
judgment, be prudent and politic to enter at once upon the 
necessary works, even though, to carry them on, all other im- 
provements had to be postponed until they were completed. 
We judge, however, that this would not be at all necessary. 
The process of excavation and embankment should be mainly 
by -team apparatus, and when once begun should go steadily 
on at a nearly regular per diem rate, otherwise idle capital 
would be charged upon the Park. The total amount of the 
• ait lay which would thus be required per annum, would not, we 
suppose, exhaust your resources. The construction of the South- 
open Ground being an undertaking by itself, need wait for noth- 
ing. It nowhere involves very heavy work, and the chief need 
for discretion will be in regard to the means and methods 
to be used for improving the soil. We should recommend that 
the outer parts be dressed heavily with soil, clay, and well-rotted 
manure, and trees planted of much larger size than we should 
advise to be used under other circumstances, but that for the 
sake of economy the Green should be improved more slowly 
by the process already suggested. Before it was ready to be 
seeded for turf the Pavilion might be built, and the grove 
to the north of it being fitted up as a temporary pic-nic ground, 
it would probably be found at once a source of income equiva- 
lent to the interest on its cost. 

At the same time the Park Haven pier should be built and 
there would be nothing in the way of the construction of the 
shore road, the Concourse on the Pier, and the Belvedere. By 
the time these had been completed, the dredging would be so 
far advanced that boats could run from the city into the harbor 
and finishing operations could be begun on the Belvedere lawn 
and other parts of the interior Park. 

We make these suggestions as to the course of operations 
simply to show that if the construction of the Lagoon and 
Midway Basin should be immediately undertaken, it would 
not necessarily involve a delay in making the Park fully avail- 
able in certain important particulars for public use. 



36 

in speaking of the depth of the Lagoon, and generally in re- 
ferring to the depth of excavations, we have had in view the 
minimum requirements of the plan. It is to be expected that 
roads and walks throughout the Park will generally be graded 
as low as shall be consistent with efficient drainage, and a 
graceful continuity of parts, and by this means material will 
be obtained for a slight modulation of adjoining surfaces. 
By the occasional introduction in the shores of a surface but 
a few inches above high water level, and in which only rushes 
and water plants will grow, the average elevation of the filled 
ground may he made higher at other points, and a variety 
attained altogether desirable. Adjoining the basin and the 
Mere, occasional elevations of at least twenty feet can be easily 
managed with long flowing contours and without any appearance 
of being artificially mounded. The excavation of two feet, 
which we have before said is required in the Southopen Ground, 
ami which should he extended from the central point in long 
shallow depressions to the north-cast and north-west, and to the 
south-west beyond the Pool, together with the deeper excavaiioD 
required for the Pool itself, will yield sufficient material to give 
a perceptible play of surface upon the lower part of the South- 
open Green, and in grading the drives and walks something 
may be cheaply added. 

By slight and inexpensive changes of the surface, such as 
we have thus advised, provided always that trees of a satis- 
factory character can be insured, the scenery of this part of 
the Park may he rendered appropriate and pleasing. We do 
not say that it would under no circumstances be desirable to 
vary the surface much more, but only that it is not indispensable 
to do so, and as any considerably increased modulation beyond 
what we have indicated, would be expensive, the question of 
undertaking ii may be regarded as one of detail, to be deter- 
mined when necessary with fair consideration of resources which 
shall then be available. 

If it could be afforded, for instance, it would be desirable 
to form an irregular depression extending from the vicinity of 
the Tool through the Glade to the Mere on the east side of 
the Upper Plaisance, its depth being sufficient to disclose the 



37 

Mere at this point to view from the north-western part of the 
Green. The material obtained would be used chiefly to elevate 
the Ramble district. The drive east of this may have consid- 
erable depression and the material thus obtained should be 
chiefly used to elevate the surface still further to the eastward. 

The shores of the Mere, the swells of the Midway slopes and 
the points and islands of the Lagoon could generally be in- 
creased several feet in height beyond what will be convenient 
with the material provided for, by increasing the proposed depth 
of the excavation for water. There will be a decided advantage 
in all such increase and do disadvantage, except that of cost, 
which within desirable limits will not at all advance with the 
depth the dredging machine is required to work. 

The consideration hereafter of what can be afforded in this 
way will perhaps be affected favorably to larger operations than 
we have spoken of as absolutely necessary by the adoption of a 
temporizing policy wherever it can be applied without entailing 
permanent defects upon the Park. You have for instance a 
great extent of woods and walks upon your plan. It is very 
important that all of these should be laid out, and in the man- 
agement of the plantations should be constantly regarded as if 
in existence, but it is entirely unnecessary for this purpose that 
finely constructed wheel and foot ways, of full width and 
adapted to use in all weathers, should be formed within their 
outlines. The way being left open, this part of the work can lie 
postponed until required by the immediate convenience of the 
public. The character of your ground is very favorable to 
such a course. Again, you have a cheap lumber market, and 
if such buildings, bridges and fences as are at once required for 
the public accommodation should be built of wood, no oppor- 
tunity would have been lost and little expenditure would have 
been wasted, if, when they were found decaying or inadequate, 
it should be decided to supplant them with structures of greater 
dignity and permanence. 

On the other hand, if, before making your plantations, you 
should neglect to take every practicable precaution to secure 
the constant, vigorous growth and health of the trees, the 



38 

defect which you will have fastened upon the Park,, is one 
which, by no subsequent liberality, can be made good. A 
temporizing policy in this direction, therefore, would be most 
disloyal to the Future, which you are bound first of all to be 
faithful to. 

As grading operations must be essentially complete before 
the preparation of surfaces for planting can be begun, we 
would again, therefore, most earnestly press the consideration 
upon you that a comparatively small body of vigorous, well de- 
veloped trees, will in a few years, produce more elevated sky 
lines, more apparent variety of surface, and give greater satis- 
faction than can be obtained by the expenditure of millions in 
heaping up earth. Consequently, however desirable a little 
more play of surface may be, it is of much less consequence 
than that all available means should be used for developing the 
highest horticultural capabilities of your ground. 

It only remains for us to refer to some suggestions which 
we have offered in the plan, in regard to approaches and ex- 
terior streets. 

The important line of communication which we call the 
Southopen Parkway, does not, at present, connect properly with 
the Southopen Ground, but it may be made to do so by the 
acquisition on the part of your Commission, of a comparatively 
small piece of land, and we have therefore thought it desir- 
able to show on our design how a satisfactory adjustment may 
thus be arrived at. 

The difficulty in regard to the Southgrove Parkway, as at 
present laid down on the maps, is of a more serious character. 
It turns abruptly at right angles, a few hundred feet away from 
the Park, and the actual provision for entrance when it reaches 
its extreme corner, is so wholly inadequate that some consider- 
able improvement will inevitably be required. 

A close study of all the circumstances of this ease, has led 
us to avoid any attempt to solve the difficulty by direct addition 
to the Park territory, and we have been led to think on the other 
hand that the necessary improvement should be made in the 



39 

form of an extension of the Parkway on a scale commensurate 
with the importance of its position and having a marked artistic 
character of its own. 

About fifty years ago the Quadrant leading from Pall Mall 
to Eegent Street was made one of the finest 'thoroughfares in 
London. JSTo such connection had been originally contemplated, 
but the demand for some adequate means of communication in 
this direction having become imperative, the new street was at 
length cut through a quarter of the city that had been solidly 
built up with expensive structures. We suggest the adoption of 
a somewhat similar expedient in your case, before any houses 
are erected in the neighborhood, and if the Parkway Quadrant 
can be carried out as shown on our Plan, the curved line of 
approach will, we think, have a sufficiently bold sweep to be 
easy and agreeable in connection with the long, straight line of 
the Southgrove Parkway, and the main Park entrance to which 
it leads will be relieved of any appearance of awkwardness. 

An unusual volume of traffic will naturally be accumulated on 
the boundary streets of the Park, and we propose, for this 
reason, and also to improve their promenade character, that 
they should be somewhat widened on each side of the present 
centre line. The suggestion to increase the width of two of 
these streets to eighty-six feet, has been already referred to, and 
the others should, we think, be at least a hundred feet wide, and 
their walks on the Park side continuously shaded. Improvements 
of this character are almost invariably called for sooner or later 
in the vicinity of urban parks, and their costliness increases 
with every year they are postponed. We have seen many hun- 
dred thousand dollars saved in a few years by prompt action 
on similar advices in other cases, and many more lost by in- 
attention to it. 

In the progress of a public improvement like that of the 
Chicago South Park, undertaken with so much reference to the 
distant future as its justification necessarily predicates, and the 
completion of which, in all its parts, must be so far off, the 
introduction of subsidiary elements of design of greater or less 
importance will undoubtedly from time to time be proposed. 



40 

It is not to be expected that a plan will be made at the outset 
so complete, that no additions to it or modifications of it in 
detail will be admissable, but it is of the utmost consequence 
that the essential ends should be clearly seen before the work 
is organized, and that from the moment it begins to the end, 
be that five or fifty years hence, and under whatever changes 
of administration and changes of fashion, these great ruling 
ends should be pursued with absolute consistency. Work of the 
character designed constantly requires ability of high order in 
its supervision, and it is undesirable that the exercise of this 
ability should be hampered by unnecessarily specific instructions. 

Under the influence of these considerations our object has 
been simply to develop a series of the most desirable features 
practicable of realization under the very peculiar conditions 
of your site and circumstances, and we have endeavored to carry 
the design of these only so far as to establish the characteristic 
end of each, whether it be an artistic effect on the imagination 
or simply an accommodation for convenience and comfort. 

The plan having, after due deliberation, been adopted as 
the constitutional law of the park construction, no proposition 
involving change or addition in any locality, should be enter- 
tained, however attractive in itself, which is not harmonious 
with the purpose intended to rule in that locality. All propo- 
sitions on the other hand, intelligently designed to strengthen 
and emphasize its main purposes, may be heartily welcomed, 
and their adoption be simply a question of practical business 
expediency. 

Trusting that the plan which we have now presented may 
meet with your approval and that time will justify the confi- 
dence with which you have honored us. 

We remain, gentlemen, 

Yours respectfully, 

OLMSTED, VAUX & CO., 
March, 1871. Landscape Architects. 



41 



CHICAGO SOUTH PARK 

AREAS AND DISTANCES 

The Park with its outer Promenades contains 1,055 acres. 

The Upper Division 372 " 

The Midway Division 90 " 

The Lower or Lagoon Division 593 " 

The Southopen Ground 191 " 

The Sonthopen Green, within the circuit drive. . . . 100 " 

The Pavilion Ground 1 " 

The Pavilion, (Refectory, Courts, Garden and Gal- 
leries.) 2 " 

The Pavilion Concourse 3 " 

The Upper Plaisance 137 " 

The Deer Paddock 7 " 

The Farmstead Close -1 " 

The Mere 11 " 

The Midway Rasin 14 " 

The Midway Place 4 " 

The Lakeopen Ground 270 " 

The Lakeopen Green 26 " 

The Park Haven Green 9 " 

The Belvedere Concourse 3 " 

The Lake Terrace 3 " 

The Lagoon Plaisance 320 " 

The Lagoon 165 " 

The Lagoon Terrace 2 

The Lagoon Concourse 2 

The length of the Interior Drives is 14 miles. 

The length of the Walks 30 " 

The length of the Mall 1-5 " 

The length of the Midway ' 1 " 

Length of front on Lake Michigan 1 6-10 



?r 



